Railway supply industry news round-up

26 Oct 2018

Presenting its Q3 results on October 25, Vossloh said it is expects group sales in 2018 to be ‘toward the lower end’ of the guidance of €875m to €950m. EBIT and the EBIT margin are predicted to be below 2017, mainly as a result of the very strong performance in the high-margin Chinese market last year. In addition, rising material prices as a result of the US tariffs on steel imports are leading to increased margin pressure, particularly in the Tie Technologies business unit. For 2019, higher sales in North America are continued to be assumed, while sales development in China will depend in part on the scheduling of deliveries under expected orders.

German railway industry association VDB has opened an office in Chengdu, its second in China following the office in Tianjin opened in May.

Vibration isolation product manufacturer Getzner Werkstoffe has begun supplying customers from a factory which it has opened in Decatur, Illinois, to meet the requirements of the Buy America Act and expand its product range in North America. The existing US headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina, is also being expanded. 'The production facility opens up a whole range of new opportunities for us in the USA', said CEO Jürgen Rainalter on October 24.

Travel booking platform GoEuro has raised US$150m in what it said was one of the largest-ever investment rounds in Germany, doubling its total capital raised to date. Swedish investment firm Kinnevik and Singapore-based Temasek led the round, with participation from Hillhouse Capital. Cristina Stenbeck, main shareholder of Kinnevik and a member of the boards of Kinnevik and Spotify, will join the GoEuro board.